Seriously thinking if Apple keeps dropping in price I might buy some call option(s). Could buy a single one that expires in January 2014 for 700 strike which would cost $22.50 a share. If the stock ends up at $1000 a share I'd make a $30,000 profit on a $2250 investment. As long as it hits $730 a share I'm at least guaranteed a profit. With possible hits like the iTV from a company that has a better credit rating than our government I think there’s a chance it jumps way up. Just kind of thinking out loud here but if anyone wants to chip in their opinion feel free.
I've been an apple supporter since 88. I actually purchased 100 shares in 94; when it was only 24 a share. Many thought I was a fool because Apple was going to go out of business. I did another purchase 2 years ago when it was around $120 a share. I only bought an additional 50 shares though. My investment banker wants me to sell, but I refuse. Not because I think it's going to be a lot higher. I just want the satisfaction of knowing I own a very small portion of the company. I may never sell it. But my college said the stock should be a $700+ stock.
I really don't think an potential iTV will be revolutionary, personally. Maybe I'll be wrong but their bread and butter are personal devices like ipads and iphones right now, and there's not much new innovation going on as android is taking their market share. I mean what new can they add to a phone now?
Other idea is to also sell a $800 strike, I'd limit my profit to $10,000 but the investment would only cost $1100. Think I'd be pretty nervous holding onto the option any longer if its at $800 a share anways.
Yeah I probably put the odds against it being a hit too but if I'm getting such a large payoff on a small invenstment it might be worth the chance. Lets say I think theres only a 20% chance its a hit and their stock soars but I'm getting a 10x payoff then heck that is a great bet.
Where apple has control is iTunes. The revenue generated from iTunes increases sales of iPod, iPad, itv, and iPhone. The other very awesome feature is iCloud; which any purchase or file created is automatically updated on every device linked to that account. The rumors floating around is more advanced sharing features for the and 128 gig storage. I do agree that there isn't much more I think iphone has to offer, other than way more apps available. As for the iTv; I hear they are going to make retina display TVs, that can be linked to the iTV. Supposedly; they will be using the thunderbolt technology to improve the actual fresh rates and clarity of the TVs.
The thing is about these is that they are not innovative systems, but existing technologies. Apple is always a strong stock, but as for large immediate returns, that's all on their sales data now and not on the release of any new products.
They are taking a page out of sony's playstation; sold it for loss to win the blue ray vs. HD war. The iTV is fucking cheap! I have no doubt they are selling it for a loss. But what they are gaining is access to more iTunes sales. Their "rentals" for movies increased greatly, and many users are plugging in their iTV to their stereos and playing their iTune playlists as well.
You are 100% correct. They are more of a marketing company than innovative system designs. They are really good with marketing you are cool as fuck if you own a mac. Of course they build their units with a lot of quality. It's just not groundbreaking new ideas. Just a strong and really reliable product that is sexy and makes you cool.
I'm not sure how much I like Apple stock right now; there's a lot of institutional ownership now, and that's changed the overall performance of the stock, because now most of the people who own the stock are morons.
Apple's magic is taking a technology with potential, and making it so it doesn't suck ass for the average citizen. TV may be a bridge too far, unless they can disrupt on price, because they have to fight infrastructure owners and content owners at the same time.
I honestly think a bunch of Apple's growth came on the backs of believers and smaller institutions who also believed. Now that the big boys are buying large, the stock's behavior is shifting a lot, and taking on an up/down cadence that isn't to my liking. I owned a few shares (bought in 2001), and loved owning it (I sold in 2005 to buy a Mac Mini), but I don't know if I would buy now with how closely Apple follows the market at large. Used to be it could grow despite the market's fluctuations... now it seems to follow them too closely.
Wow. Apple has literally driven the market away from desktop computing to handhelds and laptops. Their strength, IMO, has been the distribution of media and content across all the devices you own. Like you can listen to your music collection on your iMac, laptop, iPhone, iPad, etc. I happen to think the current Apple TV is truly inspired, but it is missing the ability to plug in my satellite dish and to control all the menus/tv guide/etc. and merge it all into one seamless experience. I think they're too smart to not realize this.
I have both apple and amazon content and I find the amazon streaming content MUCH better. To me, it misses the mark a bit because its a bit slow.
I totally forgot they have a little cheap TV box that you are all calling apple TV. When I said iTV in my original post I was talking about a $2000 big screen complete all in one unit they are rumored to be developing and selling in the next year. Sure I'm skeptical it will be a hit but not many of us thought iPads would be more than an interesting niche product and they've revolutionized portable computing.
Now a $2000 TV is steep, but an $800 phone sounds ridiculous as well. Early on with the iPhone they figured out how to bundle it with carrier contracts to get to the $199 price point. If they can do something similar with comcast and have a $499 iTV with a $99/mo service agreement sales could be strong.
I knew exactly what you were talking about. I'm saying they would likely build in a lot more than just an Apple TV with a nice screen.